General Information

Name: Robert Rodi

Illinois Connection

Robert was born and still lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Biographical and Professional Information

Robert Rodi was born in Chicago in the conformist 1950's. His first novels, which quickly gained him cult status, were deftly drawn satires of the city's gay scene ("Fag Hag," "Closet Case," "Drag Queen"). While continuing to write fiction he's branched out into nonfiction, the better to share his enthusiasm for dogs and all things Italian. Having written for both Vertigo and Marvel, Rodi also created several comic-book series, including ''4 Horsemen'', ''Codename: Knockout'', and ''The Crossovers''. A man of many talents, Rodi is also an actor, spoken-word performer, jazz singer, and the front man for the Chicago-based fusion rock band ''7th Kind.''

Selected Titles At Your Library

Natalie Stathis is a big, flamboyant girl with a big, obsessive crush on a gorgeous gay artist, Peter Leland. She's managed to become his best friend and constant companion, and gleefully uses her influence over him to poison every one of his budding romances - on the principle that when he's run through all the men in town, it'll finally be her turn. But when Peter finds true love in the unlikely arms of Lloyd Hood - a taciturn, gun-toting survivalist - none of Natalie's usual plots and stratagems can separate them. She's forced to throw caution to the wind and discretion out the door, and begin a campaign to win back her man that is actively, even dangerously, criminal.

An artist is commissioned to update the image of Princess Paragon, a comic book heroine whose market share is at an all-time low. He hits on the idea of turning her into a lesbian, an immediate commercial success. At that, one of the princess' loyal fans decides the time has come to end the artist's career.

The well-ordered life of Mitchell Sayer, a gay attorney, is thrown into upheaval. His mother drops a bomb - he has a long-lost brother. This sibling isn't hard to find, but he may be hard to take. For while his driver's license reads Donald Sweet, he's better known as Kitten Kaboodle.

Follows the career of B-movie sex symbol Viola Chute as her decision to pen her memoirs has some unexpected repercussions, in a novel narrated via interviews, e-mails, court depositions, extortion notes, and greeting cards.

With the help of a "fusion witch" named Francesca, millionaire Jack Ackerly switches bodies with a hot young party boy named Corey Szaslo in an attempt to recapture his youth, and as they each live their new lives to the fullest, reality sets in when Jack's former lover returns.

When Robert Rodi begins training his Sheltie, Carmen, in canine agility, he has no idea what lies in store. He considers agility--an athletic cousin to best-of-breed shows where dogs navigate complex obstacle courses--as a means of giving his sedentary dog a workout with jumps, tunnels, and teeter-totters. However, he soon gets the competitive bug, and when Carmen is sidelined by a hip injury, Rodi prowls for a new chanp--ideally a young, vigorous pooch he can take to the championships. Instead he chooses Dusty: a scrawny, scruffy rescue who alternates between Cujo-like aggressions at home, and possumlike paralysis in the ring. An unlikely competitor himself, Rodi is an urban epicure who enjoys fine wine, classical music, and Italian literature:he'd never dreamed of becoming the kind of fanatic who drives to remote locales just for a chance at ribbons. He's utterly out of place among the hearty Midwestern handlers for whom agility is a way of life. And despite his efforts, he has even less connection with his skittish and openly seditious Sheltie.

"It's G.O.O.D. vs. E.V.I.L. with a bad girl in between! Angela Devlin is a blonde-haired, bronze-skinned bombshell-- and when she's threatened, there's no telling how hard she'll go off. Go-Go Fiasco is her loyal sidekick, a bad boy wonder more than capable of handling any man who points a pistol in his direction. Together they live a life of decadence and danger-- until Angela's mom and dad try to put a stop to her sinful lifestyle. Normal parental interference is one thing, but Angela's mother happens to be the leader of G.O.O.D., the Global Organization for the Obliteration of Dastardliness, while her father is the mater of E.V.I.L., the Extralegal Vendors of Iniquity and Licentiousness-- a super-spy and a super-villain, with one scorching hot girl gone wild caught in the middle. Can Angela and Go-Go strike a blow for freedom against G.O.O.D. and E.V.I.L.? Or will these sexy spies get it in the end?"--Page 4 of cover.

"Siena seems at first glance a typical Italian city: Within its venerable medieval walls the citizens sport designer clothes, wield digital phones, and prize their dazzling local cuisine. But unlike neighboring Florence, Siena is still deeply rooted in ancient traditions--chiefly the spectacular Palio, in which seventeen independent societies known as contrade vie for bragging rights in an annual bareback horse race around the central piazza. Into this strange, closed world steps Robert Rodi. An Chicago writer with few friends in town and a shaky command of conversational Italian, he couldn't be more out of place. Yet something about the sense of belonging radiating from the ritual-obsessed Sienese excites him, and draws him back to witness firsthand how their passionate brand of community extends beyond the Palio into the entire calendar year. Smitten, Rodi undertakes a plan to insinuate himself into this body politic, learn its ways, and win its acceptance"--Page 2 of cover.

"There are two sides to every story. You've heard Thor's -- now it's time to hear Loki's. Odin's least favorite son rewrites Asgardian lore from his perspective! Loki's insatiable lust for power, his conflicted sentiments toward Sif, his antipathy toward Balder, and the deep-seated feelings of longing and resentment toward his older brother, Thor, and uncaring father, Odin, will take on new meaning"--Page 4 of cover.

"Odin has left his kingdom of Asgard, putting Thor in charge of a crumbling empire. When a surprise attack damages Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge, and injures its guardian, Heimdall, Thor realizes that Asgard is not only being attacked from outside but also from within"--Publisher description.

"The God of Thunder finds himself battling a mysterious surge of natural catastrophes-hurricanes, tidal waves, earthquakes. At first, the Son of Odin suspects Zephyr, immortal mistress of the winds, but soon he finds that the climactic upheaval must be attributed to a much larger force ... Ego, the living planet!"--Provided by publisher.

Beneath the ruins of Asgard, the Deviant villainess Ereshkigal seeks a mystic means of saving her race from extinction--and finds instead a weapon capable of dissolving all reality. With the Eternals who would oppose her mysteriously vanished, Thor stands alone--to stop the entire Deviant race from dominating the world!

When two friends discover old video footage of an unknown saloon singer, they try to pass it off as bootlegs of a long-lost cabaret legend. But their prank backfires when the viral sensation takes on a vivid - and lethal - life of its own ... and as its fame increases, so does the body count.